Week 36 FPL Tips: Stack Sunderland

With the Premier League season nearing the end, this means that the FPL season is also coming to a close. There’s not a whole lot of time left to make up ground in the overall rankings or in mini-leagues. For some teams there are just three matches remaining while others will have a double game-week in week 37 to add an additional fourth match to the schedule.

There are eight teams with a double game-week in week 37 and now is the time to start preparing, unless you still have your wild card left, like myself. Those teams with two matches in week 37 include: Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, Norwich, Sunderland, Watford, and West Ham.

Several of these teams still have a lot to play for and should be solid choices to pick up players while other teams either have their focus elsewhere (Liverpool on the Europa League) or are middle of the table and struggling (Everton). One team to single out as a possible differential as well as strong candidate for positive results is Sunderland.

They are currently in 17th place level on points with Norwich City at 31, but with a better goal difference. In the six match form table they sit 10th with seven points from one win, four draws, and one loss with their most recent matches being a win and a draw.

This weekend they face Stoke City and this is an excellent time to pick up some Sunderland attackers. In their last three matches Stoke has conceded at least four goals while there have been just over 2.5 goals scored in each of their last six games. The last time that Stoke allowed less than two goals in a game was against Watford back in March. Meanwhile, Sunderland has kept back to back clean sheets and put three past Norwich City in week 34.

With these FPL tips I’m giving recommendations across all formats, but with pricing for the official FPL game. So, whichever format you play in these are solid choices for this weekend’s fixtures.

Yann M’Vila (£4.8): Over the past four games M’Vila has averaged one chance created per match, however, he has really stepped up in central midfield by providing support for his defense. This includes seven interceptions and five tackles won over the past four matches.

Wahbi Khazri (£5.7): While his statistics dropped against both Norwich and Arsenal, his previous three matches saw him create a total of eight chances for the team with two being the fewest in a match. He also averaged one successful cross per game within this period. Over the last eight matches he has averaged just over two successful dribbles per game.

Fabio Borini (£5.4): Against Newcastle, West Brom, Leicester, and Norwich Borini had at least one shot on target, one chance created and an average of one successful dribble per game. He also racked up a goal and an assist against Norwich.

Jermain Defoe (£5.3): 13 goals this season is a modest tally and enough to lead the Black Cats this season. In Sunderland’s last seven matches he has average just over one shot on target per game and scored three goals with one assist over this same period of time.

Sunderland’s three clean sheets in their last four matches makes their defense into some great options to add as well.

Patrick van Aanholt (£4.7): In the last few games van Aanholt’s attacking threat has been stifled with four chances created in the last five matches, but zero in the past two. Instead he has been tallying interceptions and tackles with an average of over one per game in addition to nearly three aerial duels won per game.

Younes Kaboul (£4.2): The real lynchpin of the Sunderland defense has been Kaboul. He has put in some great defensive work in recent matches. Over the past five games his defensive marks include: eight interceptions and seven tackles, however he really shines with his 20 aerial duels and 50 clearances.

Jan Kirchhoff (£4.3): Kirchoff has added an attacking threat to his recent defensive form with six chances created and five successful dribbles over their last five games. Defensively he has been as solid as they come with a total of 14 interceptions, 17 tackles, 16 aerial duels, and 13 clearances over five games.

Out of these players the three that I would pick include Patrick van Aanholt, Jan Kirchhoff, and Fabio Borini. In the official game Van Aanholt is the highest owned of these three at 3.2% while Borini is at 0.2% and Kirchhoff is at 0.1% making all three excellent differential plays for week 36.